Bruery's $30-a-bottle beer draws hundreds

More than 500 people from all over the West packed the innocuous Dunn Industrial Park along the 57 Freeway in Placentia on Tuesday evening.

They lined up at the Bruery's side loading dock hours ahead of time to try microbrewery owner Patrick Rue's $30-a-bottle barrel-aged beer, Black Tuesday Imperial Stout.

Rue has been running the operation for a year and a half, and his business has grown sevenfold since then – the company now has 14 employees but started with two.

His success has culminated with the release of Black Tuesday. Tuesday night, Rue stood in a suit and a black fedora, ordering around other pseudo-mobsters and flappers, preparing the Bruery facilities for the Depression-era-themed release party.

Almost 700 liter-size bottles of the Black Tuesday stout, named for the Black Tuesday in 1929 after the stock market crash that heralded the Great Depression, were pre-sold. Rue said he expected to sell 1,000 more – not including what was on tap for the release party. The beer has created a huge buzz among aficionados, as evidenced by sites like BeerAdvocate.com.

"That's the whole batch, until next October," he said. "The line goes pretty much all the way around back. Black Tuesday was one of the first five beers we brewed here."

In the interest of full disclosure, the reporter tasted roughly an ounce of the Black Tuesday and an ounce of Chocolate Rain – which is the same, but brewed with chocolate and vanilla beans.

The Black Tuesday is opaque, sweet and black with a minimal, caramel-colored head. Without actual chocolate or honey in it, the stout smells a little like honey and has a chocolaty flavor. It has a sharper flavor absorbed from wood sugar in the walls of the bourbon barrels in which it's aged. Together with the velvety texture and mild carbonation, the flavors help mask the almost 20 percent alcohol.

The Chocolate Rain tastes similar, but is richer with no head at all.

Bruery employees recommend keeping the stuff in a wine fridge and serving it about 55 degrees Fahrenheit. Serve it as dessert instead of port or brandy. It'll keep for years corked, but you have to drink it all soon after it's opened.

"I traveled to O.C. just for this," said Derek Immekus, 28, of Seattle, waiting in line before the 6 p.m. party. "I got here at 3 p.m. I've tasted a bunch of beer the Bruery has and loved it, and I heard other people say this was awesome."